2021 Overtime Salary Threshold
For 2021, the Overtime Salary Threshold figures are $684 (Standard salary level per week), $35,568 (Standard salary level, annual equivalent), $107,432 (Highly compensated employee total annual compensation) and 4 more figures below.
| Item | Amount | Annual equivalent | Hourly basis | Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the CNMI | American Samoa | Motion picture industry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard salary level | $684 | $35,568 | - | - | - | - |
| Highly compensated employee total annual compensation | $107,432 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Compensation required for computer employees | - | - | $27.63 | - | - | - |
| Special salary level per week | - | - | - | $455 | $380 | - |
| Special base rate per week | - | - | - | - | - | $1,043 |
A dash is a figure this site has not published for that row, not an amount of zero.
Effective 2021-01-01Source: Earnings thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemption from minimum wage and overtime protections under the FLSA (DOL)Verified 2026-09-03
Compared with 2020
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2020.
| Item | 2020 | 2021 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard salary level per week | $684 | $684 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Standard salary level, annual equivalent | $35,568 | $35,568 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Highly compensated employee total annual compensation | $107,432 | $107,432 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Compensation required for computer employees, hourly basis | $27.63 | $27.63 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Special salary level per week, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the CNMI | $455 | $455 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Special salary level per week, American Samoa | $380 | $380 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Special base rate per week, motion picture industry | $1,043 | $1,043 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Standard salary level
Compensation required for computer employees
Special salary level per week
Special base rate per week
$27.63$35,568
One dot per column of the table, on a scale running from the smallest of these amounts to the largest. The scale is logarithmic - each faint line is ten times the one before it, so that the amounts crowded at the low end stay far enough apart to read. The table states which dot is which.
Who it applies to
Employers and employees subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act who rely on the executive, administrative, or professional exemption from minimum wage and overtime requirements.
What changed this year, and why
The 2021 overtime salary thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemption under the FLSA remained the same as in 2020.
Common questions
- What was the standard salary level for the FLSA overtime exemption in 2021?
- The standard salary level was $684 per week, equivalent to $35,568 per year. Employees paid below this amount generally could not be classified as exempt executive, administrative, or professional employees.
- What was the total annual compensation threshold for highly compensated employees in 2021?
- Highly compensated employees needed to earn at least $107,432 in total annual compensation, including at least $684 per week paid on a salary or fee basis, to qualify for a relaxed duties test.
- Did the 2021 thresholds differ from 2020?
- No. The standard salary level of $684 per week ($35,568 annually) and the highly compensated employee threshold of $107,432 were the same in both 2020 and 2021.
Being paid a salary means a predetermined amount that does not vary
Under federal overtime rules, employees in executive, administrative, or professional roles must generally satisfy three separate tests to be classified as exempt from overtime pay. One of those is the salary basis test, which requires that the employee be paid "a predetermined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed." In plain terms, being paid on a salary basis means the worker receives a predetermined amount that does not vary from week to week based on how many hours are worked or how well the work turns out. The salary is set in advance and paid in full regardless of fluctuations in workload or output. This is one part of a three-part framework established by the Department of Labor: the salary basis test (how the employee is paid), the salary level test (the minimum amount, which is $684 per week or $35,568 per year), and the duties test (what the employee actually does). If the salary basis test is not met, the employee cannot be classified as exempt, even if the other two tests are satisfied.
To be exempt under the standard EAP test, the employee must: Be paid a predetermined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed (the salary basis test);
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees (84 FR 51230, September 27, 2019) (DOL)
The salary is only half of it: the duties test
To qualify for the executive, administrative, or professional exemption from overtime pay, an employee must satisfy three tests: the salary basis test, the salary level test, and the duties test. The duties test asks whether the employee's "primary duty" consists of executive, administrative, or professional work as defined by the regulations. Meeting the salary level alone is not enough - even if an employee earns the required $684 per week ($35,568 annually), they are not exempt unless their primary job duties fall into one of those categories. The Department of Labor applies this standard duties test to distinguish bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees from nonexempt workers. The focus is on what the employee actually does on the job, not on job titles or descriptions. If an employee's primary duty does not involve exempt work, the employee is entitled to overtime pay under federal law regardless of how much they earn or how they are paid.
The Department believes that the standard duties test, which focuses on whether an employee's ``primary duty'' consists of EAP tasks, can appropriately distinguish bona fide EAP employees from nonexempt workers.
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees (84 FR 51230, September 27, 2019) (DOL)
The shorter test for highly compensated employees
A worker paid enough can be exempt on a much thinner showing of duties. The standard exemption asks an employer to prove a full set of executive, administrative or professional responsibilities; the highly compensated route asks only that the worker regularly does one of them. What buys the shortcut is money: total pay for the year of at least $107,432, and at least $684 of it arriving every pay period as salary or a fee, so an employer cannot reach the line on bonus money alone. Commissions and other pay that is not guaranteed can make up the rest. Two limits keep the shortcut narrow. It is shut to anyone whose main job is manual, however well paid, so it is a route for office staff and not for skilled trades. And because the compensation figure is annual while pay arrives weekly, a worker who ends up short is not automatically disqualified: one further payment, made in the final pay period or in the month after the 52-week period closes, can lift the year to the required level. Miss that window and the exemption for the year goes with it.
To meet the HCE test, an employee must earn at least the amount specified in the regulation in total annual compensation and must customarily and regularly perform any one or more of the exempt duties or responsibilities of an executive, administrative, or professional employee.\102\ This test applies ``only to employees whose primary duty includes performing office or non-manual work.'' \103\ Such an employee must receive at least the standard salary level each pay period on a salary or fee basis, while the remainder of the employee's total annual compensation may include commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses, and other nondiscretionary compensation.\104\ An employee is permitted to make a final ``catch-up'' payment ``during the last pay period or within one month after the end of the 52-week period'' to bring an employee's compensation up to the required level.\105\
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees (84 FR 51230, September 27, 2019) (DOL)
When a bonus can count toward the salary level
Under federal overtime rules, employers may count certain additional forms of compensation toward meeting the minimum salary threshold needed for an employee to be classified as exempt. Specifically, the Department of Labor permits employers to include "nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments" toward up to 10 percent of the standard salary level of $684 per week (or $35,568 annually). These bonuses must be nondiscretionary - meaning the employer has promised or committed to paying them based on predetermined criteria, such as productivity goals or profitability targets - rather than being given at the employer's sole discretion. This flexibility recognizes that many exempt employees receive a significant portion of their pay in the form of bonuses and commissions, and allows employers to factor those amounts into the salary level test. However, even with bonuses included, the employee must still satisfy the salary basis test and the duties test to be classified as exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Although several employer representatives supported the proposal without reservation, a larger number objected to the proposal's restriction that nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments could only satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard salary level.
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees (84 FR 51230, September 27, 2019) (DOL)
Workers the exemption never reaches, whatever they are paid
Under federal overtime rules, the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions apply only to workers employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity. The Department of Labor has long recognized that blue collar workers - those who perform manual labor or skilled trades such as construction, manufacturing, maintenance, and similar hands-on work - are never eligible for these exemptions, regardless of how much they are paid. The salary level tests establish a minimum threshold for exemption, but they do not extend the exemptions to categories of workers whose duties are not of the kind contemplated by the statute. Blue collar workers are therefore entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act even if their weekly earnings exceed $684 per week (or $35,568 annually). The salary tests screen out only those white collar employees who earn below the threshold, not those whose job duties fall outside the executive, administrative, or professional categories defined by the regulations.
These include blue collar workers, workers paid on an hourly basis, and workers who are exempt under certain other (non-EAP) exemptions.
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees (84 FR 51230, September 27, 2019) (DOL)
You can pay biweekly or monthly, but the floor is set on a weekly basis
The 2021 overtime salary threshold is set at $684 per week, but employers are not required to pay on a weekly basis. The Department of Labor allows the weekly amount to be translated into equivalent amounts for longer pay periods: $1,368 biweekly, $1,482 semimonthly, or $2,964 monthly. However, the shortest period of payment that satisfies the compensation requirement is one week. This means employers can pay less frequently, but the floor is always calculated on a weekly basis.
The required amount of compensation per week may be translated into equivalent amounts for periods longer than one week. For example, the $684-per-week requirement will be met if the employee is compensated biweekly on a salary basis of not less than $1,368, semimonthly on a salary basis of not less than $1,482, or monthly on a salary basis of not less than $2,964. However, the shortest period of payment that will meet this compensation requirement is one week.
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees (84 FR 51230, September 27, 2019) (DOL)
Some professionals qualify without meeting the salary threshold at all
The 2021 overtime salary threshold is set at $684 per week, which equals $35,568 annually. However, some employees are not subject to the salary test at all. Employees such as business owners, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and outside sales employees are not subject to salary tests, meaning they can qualify for the overtime exemption regardless of how much they are paid, as long as they meet the duties requirements for their category. This special treatment recognizes that these professions have traditionally been exempt from overtime based on the nature of their work rather than their compensation level. Other employees, such as academic administrative personnel and computer employees, are subject to special, contingent earnings thresholds that differ from the standard salary level.
Some employees, such as business owners, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and outside sales employees, are not subject to salary tests.
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees (84 FR 51230, September 27, 2019) (DOL)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
- Standard salary level per week
Standard Salary Level $684 per week (equivalent to a $35,568 annual salary)
- Standard salary level, annual equivalent
Standard Salary Level $684 per week (equivalent to a $35,568 annual salary)
- Highly compensated employee total annual compensation
Total Annual Compensation Requirement for Highly Compensated Employees $107,432 per year, including at least $684 per week paid on a salary or fee basis
- Compensation required for computer employees, hourly basis
Compensation Required for Computer Employees Paid on an Hourly Basis $27.63 per hour
- Special salary level per week, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the CNMI
Special Salary Level for Employees in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands $455 per week (equivalent to a $23,660 annual salary)
- Special salary level per week, American Samoa
Special Salary Level for Employees in American Samoa $380 per week (equivalent to a $19,760 annual salary)
- Special base rate per week, motion picture industry
Special Base Rate for Employees in the Motion Picture Industry $1,043 per week (or a proportionate amount based on the number of days worked)